


The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by timetosin



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Christmas Sadness, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Implied Intimacy, Pining, Post-Hephaestus, dealing with mourning/ptsd, doug's kink is being called by his first name, fluff ending, minffel, small ficlet, survivors club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 16:13:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17186225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timetosin/pseuds/timetosin
Summary: During what should be the most joyous time of year, Eiffel finds Minkowski in tears under the Christmas tree. A peek into Minkowski's post-Hephaestus feeling towards Christmas and her and Eiffel's relationship."Eiffel wondered for a moment why his chest reverberated with such sorrow as he silently watched his ex-commander sob in front of the tall light covered tree.Minkowski’s figure shimmered red, green, white, and blue as the lights gently flickered in front of her, Eiffel felt his heart sting as she curled into herself. Christmas was supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year as every song seemed to drill into his subconscious, the original Doug mentioned Christmas a lot as well."





	The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 

Eiffel wondered for a moment why his chest reverberated with such sorrow as he silently watched his ex-commander sob in front of the tall light covered tree.

Minkowski’s figure shimmered red, green, white, and blue as the lights gently flickered in front of her, Eiffel felt his heart sting as she curled into herself. Christmas was supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year as every song seemed to drill into his subconscious, the original Doug mentioned Christmas a lot as well.

He wanted to move toward her desperately but his sock-clad feet were hesitant to obey, he wished Hera would tell him what to do or Lovelace to come back from her party. Jacobi was bound to be in the expansive million-dollar home which somehow disgruntled everyone more than the Hephaestus had. Minkowski sniffed, she coughed, she struggled for breath for a moment before breaking into another soft wail.

She appeared to be somewhere else mentally, he noted this as her body went rigid as if preparing to give command or ward off attack despite their being no visible adversary.

Her eyes did not leave the tree though, their blinking display upset her more than anything else had on earth, they gave her immense anxiety. Her eyes glazed over as she felt transfixed by their similarity to alarms accompanied by Hera’s voice, oxygen and life support in critical state, airlocks crawling open, the star as it violently flickered from red to blue. Minkowski had to fix it, she had to fix everything-her marriage, Eiffel’s memories, the crew’s pain, herself, the blinking light wouldn’t stop until she did.

She felt panicked though because she was unsure of how to fix it.

The anxiety had built up so quickly she snapped, Minkowski staring at the blaring Christmas tree could not take it any longer. The light washing over her felt like deep empty space engulfing her once more and she couldn’t stop the tears from escaping her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

Minkowski said this to no one in particular and practically jumped out of her skin when a pair of skinny arms encased themselves around her. Her immediate reaction was to fight and poor Eiffel had no chance to dodge the elbow to his chin and Minkowski whirling around to continue pursuing her imagined attacker.

“Ow, should have opened with a one liner-okay…”

Eiffel tried to laugh but his jaw ached, Minkowski flinching feeling exponentially worse and aggressively grabbing his face to examine the potential damage she inflicted.

“Are you okay Eiffel? I didn’t mean to, you can’t…you can’t. You have to announce yourself.”

He hated his automatic bodily reactions to Minkowski and how he heated up to her touch, he forced himself to smile although he couldn’t stop his brows from furling in concern. Eiffel allowed her to turn his face back and forth as she checked his jawline over her fingertips imprinting themselves on his skin.

“Well, you sure punch just as hard as Diana Prince that’s for sure.”

Eiffel gently pulled himself from her worried hands.

“But I actually came to ask if you were okay, Minkowski…”

His eyes bore into her silently as she roughly used her palms to dry her angry raw cheeks, he ignored her protest of being absolutely fine. Eiffel didn’t want to be distracted by his own stupid thoughts but he was taken aback by how she could look so perfectly neat despite crying heavily, not a single hair out of place, and beautiful brown pools of eyes not reddened the slightest.

“I’m fine.”

Minkowski squeezed her eyes shut and winced away from the lights.

“The lights just bothered me for some reason.”

Her eyes remained shut until she heard the sound of a plug being yanked from its socket and re-opened her eyes to the dark room. Minkowski let out a long sigh and her conscious immediately began chiding her for her stupidity, losing control of her emotions, showing weakness when she was supposed to provide for everyone else. She felt furious with herself but Eiffel’s socks came into view followed by his open palm.

She refused to take it, instead standing tall and glancing to look Eiffel in the eyes. The vulnerability, compassion, and investment written all over his face made her look away, he had never been good at hiding his emotions. Then again, neither had she tonight, tonight she slipped up.

“Why don’t you head to bed, Commander. I’ll walk with you.”

Minkowski didn’t know why but since they returned when Eiffel called her commander she was comforted, she felt powerful and trusted. The sentiment was desperately needed this night in particular although she felt their roles were very much switched as he followed her up the glass staircase, his socks making a soft squeak when he dragged his feet. When she pushed open the door to her room she stopped in the doorway.

“Eiffel?”

He hummed in response.

“Do you want to stay in here with me a moment?”

They exchanged no words as he entered the bedroom behind her, closing the door with a click. Eiffel understood what she was asking, he spoke about it to himself on a recording once, she had asked him once or twice now that they shared the home with the survivor crew and there was no more Mr. Koudelka to do the job at night. Eiffel understood this is what friends who traveled and almost got murdered by aliens did to remain sane, the old Doug did, so why did he hope for something much deeper.

“Do you want to talk about it, Renée?”

The use of her first name changed the atmosphere, it always did regardless if it was intentional, sometimes she thought of it as a secret between them. Using each other’s first names made them equals, made interactions intimate, made her calm. She shook her head no once as she crawled into the cold sheets closing her eyes as she felt his nervous hands wrap around her shoulders, one rubbing her back in slow circles. He laid a few feet away, only allowing his hands to touch her, he never scooted closer due to his fear of being put out on his ass.

Tonight though, Renée rolled from her side to face him, she came closer and closer until there was no space in between them and Doug could feel her breath graze his face.

Her expressive eyes locked with his, he couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on his face she was so close and her presence was too welcome. Her palm came up to cup his cheek, her body much nearer than before, she was crossing every line outlined in Pryce and Carter and tearing it to shreds.

“Doug…”

He felt his heart ache, God he couldn’t keep it from racing when she called him by his name, he couldn’t stop the desire to be with her when she spoke with that uncharacteristically soft drawl. He knew he didn’t deserve Commander Renee Minkowski and Jacobi had probably drugged his eggnog with something absolutely vile but he was fine with the consequences for the hallucination before him.  

“Yeah?”

Fuck, that was so stupid why couldn’t he muster up something better than that.

“Do you want to stay the night.”

Doug could do little more than nod.

“Please Renée.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write them actually getting it on but I am a coward. Maybe one day I will get the courage to write them doing the devil's tango but for now, the implication will do.  
> I hope you enjoyed this little holiday ficlet   
> Also, I hope you all had a good holiday season, God knows I did not 


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